Found an IL86 on a permabody, in Cordon already. Can't remember ever seeing that before (patch 1.5.10, without mods as usual). Once upgraded to 5.45 ammo it came in handy when killing the Cordon Military.

I also found a new way (to me) of attacking the southern Military base. I approached it on the eastern edge as usual, but instead of jumping over the fence I followed it towards the watch tower next to the main gate. Once there, I jumped up on a tiny ledge under the window, which let me snipe most of the Military right through the building without them ever realizing where I was hiding.

I'm sad to say Stalker's graphics suffer from being played on today's larger resolution monitors (mine is 2560x1440px). A high res texture mod might help a little (are there any?). Another solution might be a mod that diminished the screen area to "ideal" size, perhaps with black borders all around. Is there anything like that available?

Can you be more specific on the exact location of the perma-body with the crap gun? I usually leave the Marshes with a PSO-1 Scope and pick up an Abakan in the Cordon so it's nothing I'm needing.

Yep. Nothing like trying new variations of attack on known locations as it can get old using the same tried and true methods again and again. Hope you know to never arrive in the Cordon and talk to Sidorovich first. Once you talk to him, there is a massive exodus and men and mutants moving into position for the scripted events. Always explore ALL the Cordon and see things you would never otherwise see before the changes and then talk to Sidorovich LAST.

I just got this: ( So I will have to see what you say about the graphics )

I didn't want to pay twice as much for the G-Sync version and I'm not convinced it's that big of a deal. Besides there are many articles on the internet to get Nvidia cards to work with some functionality with Free-Sync. I'm looking forward to 1440p and 144Hz refresh rate. The curved monitor is cool too.

I think it was the body just north of the Loner base. Usually that body (or the one west of the Loner base) contains an AKM-74/2U. There's usually some randomness in loot content, but I can't recall ever seeing an IL86 in Cordon that early (i.e. before the faction war starts). Reminds me of the time I found an SGI just when I arrived in Garbage (dropped by a Freedomer?).

Normally an IL86 is not a useful gun, but in this playthrough I didn't bother with upgrading the AKM from the marshes (maybe I sold it, can't remember), and I hadn't yet looted any Obokans. I think I'll keep using the IL86 just for the added challenge, haven't done that for the last ten years probably.

It's not a major change in graphics, but just coming from Crysis with a high res texture mod the decrease was obvious. Didn't you play Stalker on a laptop? That might be the best solution graphics-wise, due to the smaller screen.

The new shoot-through-the-window trick didn't work so well in subsequent attacks. Now the Military were guarding the entrance to their base, and counter-attacked from there. With only a leather jacket for protection and the IL86 upgraded for accuracy instead of fire rate I had to retreat into the Eastern forest, where I was reminded that the Military can throw grenades further than I can shoot.

I don't bother to upgrade the Marshes AKM either since it's a waste of money, there's little to none ammo for it and I'm not going to keep using it. However I do slap a scope on it and use it briefly until the Cordon delivers an AN-94. I can't speak for the randomness of weapons found on perma-bodies. Maybe you just got lucky.

Currently I'm playing CoP at 2560 x 1440p on my desktop with a GTX 970. I've got a game of SoC ( 1.0006 patch & no ZRP Mod ) going on my Laptop at 1920 x 1080 with a GTX 1050 Ti and I think they both look great. I guess I need to play the retail versions on the new 32" monitor to see fault but at 144hz it's smooth as butter.

That's funny that a repeat of new tactics doesn't work as well as before. Sometimes it seems the old A-Life & X-Ray Engine learns from it's mistakes and comes back to thumb it's nose at you. That's why we all love it. Feels like an MMO without the 13 year olds chatting about your Mother, Poop and Jr. High.

I could be wrong about the graphics, maybe I'm simply not used to the quirks of Stalker (like the short viewing distance for grass, or the slightly hexagonal binoculars).

The dead Military had been replaced with new NPCs from the south, are the latter perhaps different in behavior? Or maybe one just have to time the attack to when they're not patrolling on the road.

The next thing I did was trying to attack the road patrol itself. I managed to kill one, but funnily enough the two survivors didn't attack me, instead they ran back to the base! Maybe the twilight made them more cautious.

I only tried multiplayer games briefly 20 years ago, but didn't like it at all. First, a multiplayer game feels more like sport (say football) than real fighting. I suppose this is done on purpose because players like it that way, but I'd rather play a football game then. Second, real humans don't move in realistic ways in games, instead we run around like speeded maniacs to save time and keep watch (I do it too, but fortunately I'm not aware of my own movements while playing). A-life NPCs ironically behave more natural than human player characters exactly because they are programmed to do that.

---QUOTATION---The next thing I did was trying to attack the road patrol itself. I managed to kill one, but funnily enough the two survivors didn't attack me, instead they ran back to the base! Maybe the twilight made them more cautious.---END QUOTATION---

Subsequent patrols didn't run back, instead they pulled out their weapons and retreated walking backwards. Apparently they still didn't see me, but why were they less scared than the first one?

---QUOTATION---The new shoot-through-the-window trick didn't work so well in subsequent attacks. Now the Military were guarding the entrance to their base, and counter-attacked from there.---END QUOTATION---

I couldn't hear the Military approaching around the corner of the building, which let them take me by surprise. But now I found that when the sun is in the West it will make the NPCs cast a shadow, that way you can see them before they turn around the corner. Obviously this only works in the afternoon (assuming the sun moves normally)...

After about ten attacks on the Military outpost I checked the stash box in the main building. Turns out its content had grown to about 4500 rounds in all (9x18, 5.45 and 5.45 BP). I used to think stash replenishing was done by timer, but now I wonder if the Military replacement squads are causing it?

I've sniped the Cordon machine gunner many times with a Vintar, now I found that an IL86 (fully upgraded for accuracy) works pretty well too, at least if you move a little closer behind the large rocks. The hard part is actually spotting the gunner's head, but this becomes easier in the evening when his head lamp is switched on.